Author: SupremeCmdr

LIMRA 3Q US Individual Life Insurance Sales – Not Good

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Individual Life Insurance Sales—the Good and Bad News

Declines in other products resulted in total individual life insurance sales falling 11% in the third quarter of 2009, according to the LIMRA report.  Overall, because of steeper decreases in Q1and Q2, total individual annualized premium sales are down 19% YTD.  Universal life (UL) sales were down 14% in the Q3, compared with drops of about 30% in Q1and Q2.In the first nine months of 2009, UL declined 24%, according to LIMRA.

Until these numbers start improving, the job market for underwriters is going to remain flat.

Or worse.

Turkeys – Talent Shortage Looming

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The Coming Fight for Executive Talent – BusinessWeek

I’ve shortened the title of my occasional posts on management issues to Turkeys. Any negative connotations are purely coincidental.  This series of posts started while underwriting at my brother’s house and his gaggle of wild turkeys walked by.  So say bye-bye to “Remote Underwriting With Turkeys”.  Now we’re just talkin’ turkey.

And management issues.

CRP as Risk Factor for CHD

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C-Reactive Protein as a Risk Factor for Coronary Heart Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — Ann Intern Med

Conclusion: Strong evidence indicates that CRP is associated with CHD events. Moderate, consistent evidence suggests that adding CRP to risk prediction models among initially intermediate-risk persons improves risk stratification. However, sufficient evidence that reducing CRP levels prevents CHD events is lacking.

 

HSDD – Flibanserin

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Medical News: ESSM: Flibanserin Boosts Sex Life of Low-Libido Women – in OB/Gyn, General OB/GYN from MedPage Today

The drug was originally developed as an antidepressant. Animal experiments had suggested it might have a more rapid effect than serotonin reuptake inhibitors, but it failed to substantially reduce depression symptoms in a clinical trial.

However, the potential to increase female sexual desire became apparent during the study. Reportedly, trial participants were reluctant to return unused pills when the study was over.